A Myrtle Creek police officer was arrested last week after authorities say he pretended to be a child on Facebook to solicit sexually explicit photos from teenaged girls. He is also accused of separately sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl.

Alexander Salterio, 33, told Oregon Department of Justice agents after his arrest Friday that he sometimes sent girls nude photos of himself from his home in Roseburg so they would send him photos in return, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Authorities determined a 13-, a 14- and a 17-year-old girl sent photos to Salterio, and there were others suspected victims between the ages of 12 and 17, the affidavit said. The Justice Department received two tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in December after Facebook reported uploaded content as child pornography. Authorities later traced one of the IP addresses to Salterio and another to one of the girls, according to the court documents.

According to the affidavit, Salterio would contact girls on Facebook while pretending to be a teenage boy and solicit sexually explicit photos from the children. He would also send sexually explicit photos and videos of a boy and claim it was him in addition to photos of himself, the affidavit said.

“With most victims (Salterio) would direct them what intimate part to photograph or video and how they should do it,” the affidavit said. “With some victims he would threaten to post their previously disclosed intimate images online if they refused to provide further images and videos.”

The 10-year-old girl disclosed the abuse to authorities on Friday, the affidavit said.

Salterio has been a police officer with Myrtle Creek since August 2017, state records show. Myrtle Creek is about 18 miles south of Roseburg.

He remained held in the Douglas County jail Tuesday on accusations of using a child in display of sexually explicit conduct, first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse, coercion, first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, first-degree sexual abuse and aggravated identity theft.